Ecuadorian specialists warn that the pandemic is not overafter the president’s announcement William Lasso about the end of the restrictions capacity. Epidemiologists and immunologists ask citizens not to lower their guard with the measures and remind them that the immunity of the vaccines anticovid decreases over time.
The loss of immunity over time it becomes known as ‘waning immunity’, says Jhommara Bautista, expert in biotechnology. And the immunology expert, Manuel Baldeonpoints out that, normally, the immune response to an infection or to vaccination is greater immediately after a person has been infected or received the vaccine.
Once the infection passes or when the days or months pass after the vaccination, the immune response to that infection should decrease. This, because the microbe is no longer in the body and, in the case of vaccination, the antigenBaldeon explains.
Immunity by contagion and by vaccine
When a person becomes infected natural immunity, but -by far- the immunity acquired by the vaccines is better, indicates the biotechnologist Bautista. This is because the antibodies of convalescent patients (those who have been infected) are short-lived.
Bautista also reminds that if a person has already been infected, they can and should be vaccinated. “There are several studies that show better immunity by having an infection and then getting vaccinated; or get vaccinated and then get infected. It is known as hybrid immunity“.
immunity time
Bautista maintains that there is no exact time of immunity. This can be, on average, three to six months. The shortest immunity time, he reiterates, is when it is caused by a covid-19 infection.
The immunologist Baldeón points out that studies are still being carried out to determine the time. An important point, he maintains, is that after infection or vaccination, the immune system forms memory cells that they are ready to react in case the infection with the same microbe returns.
The problem of SARS-CoV-2 is that they have appeared variants and that greatly influences the immune response, explains Baldeón. “Many may have properties that escape the immune response and that is why we must always be vigilant.”
The measures, says the expert, should be thought of with caution. “If a variant that affects the immune response, even if people are vaccinated or have been infected, the new variants could cause serious problems.
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